[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 15, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1644-S1646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FISCAL DISCIPLINE

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, returning to the Senate is in many ways 
like having a chance to relive part of one's life; yet doing so with 
the benefit of experience, experience that I gained in serving in this 
body before and also from service in the private sector. It allows one 
to see things differently than before.
  While I can discuss with my colleagues many things that remain the 
same in the Senate, there is also much that has changed in our country 
that requires change in this institution. It is what has changed that 
has brought me back to the Senate. The more I witnessed what was 
happening to our country, the more I realized that I, like many others 
across the country, needed to reengage in some way or another in the 
task of returning our country to its basic values and time-tested 
principles, not the least of which is returning our Federal Government 
to one that ensures a healthy fiscal nation whose finances and policies 
promote job opportunities for its citizens.
  I could not get comfortable with the fact that my generation might be 
the first to leave a country to our children that is in worse fiscal 
shape and with less opportunity than the one we had the privilege of 
inheriting.
  When I first came to Congress in 1981, one of the first votes I had 
to deal with was to raise the national debt limit to just over the $1 
trillion mark. It was a tough one. Think of that. For nearly 200 years, 
as our country prospered and grew financially, we spent ourselves into 
$1 trillion worth of debt. As a newly elected Member of the House of 
Representatives at that time, the last thing I wanted to do, 
particularly having run on a campaign of limited government and 
trimming the size of government and spending, was to make one of my 
very first votes on raising the national debt to accommodate excessive 
spending. But gritting my teeth and swallowing hard, I followed the 
request of newly elected President Ronald Reagan, who said we need to 
pay past bills so we can get to the job of cutting spending and cutting 
taxes and getting our country back on the right track economically.
  It is difficult for me to comprehend that I am standing here 30 years 
later, and we are looking at a national debt of over $14.5 trillion. So 
in just 30 years we have gone from $1 trillion to $14.5 trillion. I 
cannot comprehend that number. Very few Americans can comprehend that 
number. But, clearly, one thing stands out; that is, this Federal 
Government has grown faster and much deeper in debt than any of us 
could have imagined over a very short

[[Page S1645]]

period. We will pay a steep price tag for that debt. It threatens our 
way of life, as well as our Nation's security.
  During the 1990s, the combination of economic growth and defeat of 
the 1993 health care plan, President Clinton's decision to move to the 
middle and support welfare reform--all contributed to moving us toward 
a more sensible and fiscally responsible balance between revenue and 
spending. In fact, in 1998, we actually reached a surplus of about $69 
billion, the first surplus reached since the year 1969. That would have 
been the ideal time to lock in a balanced budget amendment to ensure we 
would not slip back into deficit spending and that Congress and the 
White House would be held accountable for future spending. There were 
two serious attempts during the 1990s, both of which I supported, to 
enact a balanced budget amendment. They failed, each one, by one vote. 
Think today where we would be fiscally had we gotten that one vote and 
passed either of those amendments and sent it to the States for 
ratification, which I am sure they would have done. We would not be 
facing the dire situation we face today.
  I have decided not to go into the details of our exploding deficit 
and debt. Much has already been said and published in that regard. Much 
has been said on this floor, and more will be said. Based on the last 
election, the American public is now much better informed of our 
current financial situation and the dangerous consequences of unchecked 
spending. We have spent beyond our means in all areas of government. We 
have increased unfunded liabilities, and we have committed to programs 
which we cannot afford or sustain. Americans have heard the warnings of 
many who have analyzed the situation and sounded the alarm.
  In 2010, they said immediate action must be taken to avoid a national 
fiscal crisis of unprecedented negative consequences. What are those 
consequences? Ultimately, those consequences include a lower standard 
of living, less income for families to take home to pay the mortgage, 
to buy that new car, to save and send their children to school. Those 
consequences have, unfortunately, over the past couple of years put our 
Nation in a serious unemployment situation. People are out of work, and 
they have been out of work for months if not years. Ultimately, it all 
turns back to jobs.
  Having the ability to bring home earnings that will sustain a family 
and provide opportunities for education, health, growth for those 
families, and give our children and grandchildren and all those who 
follow the opportunities so many of us have enjoyed--those are the 
consequences we face if we don't today address these problems.
  Many respected economists and financial experts have continued to 
issue dire warnings about our current fiscal condition. Let me quote a 
few.
  Erskine Bowles, former Chief of Staff to President Clinton and 
cochair of the President's deficit reduction committee, said:

       This debt is like a cancer [that] will destroy the country 
     from within [unless Washington acts].

  Pete Peterson, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and finance 
executive, said about the national debt:

       We need to ask ourselves, not just is this sustainable, but 
     is it moral? What does it mean to burden our kids to an 
     unconscionable doubling of their taxes?

  Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said:

       I believe our debt is the greatest threat to our national 
     security. If we as a country do not address our fiscal 
     imbalances in the near term, our national power will erode, 
     and the costs to our ability to maintain and sustain 
     influence could be great.

  Finally, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, who served 
under both Republican and Democratic administrations, said:

       What threatens the ship are large, known and growing 
     structural deficits . . . Habitually spending more money than 
     you make is irresponsible.

  But that is exactly what Washington has done, habitually spend, 
sinking our fiscal ship deeper and deeper each year.
  We saw a drastic swing in November: Hoosiers and Americans united in 
a common purpose to demand that our newly elected representatives and 
all representatives repair our fiscal health that has been destroyed by 
excessive tax-and-spend policies. They called for a change in course. 
They called for bold action today to preserve our country for tomorrow. 
They realized that the stakes are too high to ignore or delay 
addressing our fiscal challenges. Hoosier families and businesses, 
local communities, States, and virtually every other entity across 
Indiana and the country have had to make sacrifices to trim their 
budgets. They are now calling for the Federal Government and Congress 
to do the same.
  We cannot succeed unless we together, Republicans and Democrats, 
agree that addressing our current fiscal crisis requires political 
courage and bold action from both parties, both Chambers of Congress, 
and President Obama.
  I wish to offer what I think are some solutions I believe Congress 
must execute, perhaps, in a coordinated way, essential steps if we are 
serious about addressing the fiscal challenge before us.
  First, stop the fiscal bleeding and avoid economic distress by doing 
so. Washington has to break its spending and borrowing addiction. Like 
curing any bad habit, it will take discipline and commitment. As we 
consider spending cuts and ways we can reverse the growth of 
government, I believe everything must be on the table. All functions of 
government should be examined, including mandatory spending and defense 
spending. Serious discussions and proposals are currently underway in 
this Congress. I am participating in many of them. These proposals need 
to be considered carefully. They need to be debated and voted on.
  Secondly, it is important we recognize that spending cuts alone will 
not solve our fiscal challenges and preserve our future. We need to 
pair our cuts with a pro-growth agenda that puts Hoosiers and Americans 
back to work. One of the ways Congress can achieve this goal is by 
reforming the Tax Code. By lowering marginal rates, by lowering 
corporate rates to make us more competitive with our competitors around 
the world, by eliminating exclusions and special introductions and 
credits and simplifying the complex and convoluted Tax Code, Congress 
can help advance the economic recovery. This is a necessary element in 
the task of returning to fiscal health. I currently am working on 
legislation on this very topic and hope to introduce it in the coming 
weeks.
  Third, Washington needs to examine, reduce and, in many cases, 
eliminate harmful regulations and mandates. As I have traveled across 
Indiana, perhaps one story I have heard over and over from every 
business with which I engage is, regulations coming out of Washington, 
many of which do not reflect the will of the people, the will of 
Congress but are imposed by nonelected bureaucrats, have put us at a 
disadvantage with our competitors, have added additional burdens of 
paperwork and compliance that don't make sense from a health and safety 
standpoint.
  Oversight and proposals to address the regulatory burdens also need 
to be considered, debated, and voted on by this Congress.
  Fourth, I think we need to promote trade policies. Six thousand 
businesses in Indiana export overseas. One-fourth of all of our 
manufacturing jobs result from exports. A good first step in this 
process is to open our markets by approving the three pending trade 
agreements we have: Korea, Colombia, and Panama. This will increase job 
opportunities at home and put us on the path of continuing open trading 
that provides so many jobs to so many Americans.
  Having said all this, the greatest threat to our fiscal security is 
the growing and unsustainable mandatory spending. We cannot strengthen 
our country's financial health without addressing Medicare and Medicaid 
and Social Security. These programs along with the interest on the 
national debt consume nearly two-thirds of the Federal budget. While we 
hear a lot of talk about the necessity of tackling entitlement 
spending, little action occurs because it is often considered too 
politically dangerous. However, I believe we no longer have a choice. 
We no longer can defer addressing these problems until after the next 
election. The entitlement crisis is before us and has been growing for 
several years.
  We know about the coming baby boom generation that is retiring and 
the impact that will put on entitlement programs. We have to commit to 
finding a way to restructure these programs and make them solvent.

[[Page S1646]]

  Let me repeat that. We are not here to undercut these programs; we 
are here to preserve them. We are here to make the necessary 
structural, long-term incremental changes so those benefits will be 
there for people when they retire.
  As Winston Churchill once said:

       One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger 
     and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double 
     the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without 
     flinching, you will reduce the danger [at least] by half.

  We have not met this promptly. But I believe it is not too late to 
begin the process of making commonsense adjustments to the current 
systems. Modest incremental changes now will help us avoid much more 
drastic and painful changes later.
  In 1983, Congress was faced with a serious Social Security crisis. We 
were months away from having checks not sent out. Together, President 
Reagan, Tip O'Neill, majority and minority members of the Senate and 
the House, and the political leaders of the respective parties gathered 
together and decided to put this issue and the solution to this issue 
above politics, and they did so. It was a difficult debate and 
discussion, but we made the changes that were implemented on an 
incremental basis.
  Social Security bought 30 years of solvency on the basis of that 
decision. The sky did not fall. The economy did not collapse. And the 
people, when they learned why we were doing what we were doing--to 
preserve the program, not leave it in a dire situation where benefits 
would have to be cut or reduced dramatically--they backed what we did 
and supported it.
  I believe we are in that position now with our entitlements. So if we 
can propose sensible, modest changes that will save these programs, I 
think the public will gladly support them.
  Over the last decade, we have watched the storm clouds gather, and we 
have watched as those fiscal clouds have drawn ever closer and become 
ever darker. They are now bearing down upon us, and alarms are sounding 
louder than ever. As I have said, it is incumbent upon each of us in 
this Congress to acknowledge that the storm is here and to do all we 
can to mitigate the damage.
  But given the current division of authority in our Congress and 
executive branch, it is incumbent upon the two Chambers and the two 
parties to set aside the politics of 2012 for the sake of the future of 
our Nation. I believe the voters will respond favorably to that 
decision.
  However, no matter what we do as elected representatives, we cannot 
ultimately succeed without the engagement and the support and the 
leadership of the President of the United States. We know the President 
understands the gravity of the fiscal crisis. As a former Senator, as a 
Presidential candidate, and now as Commander in Chief, he has clearly 
articulated his understanding of the issue.
  In 2006, then-Senator Obama said:

       Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and 
     internationally. Leadership means that the ``buck stops 
     here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad 
     choices today onto the backs of our children and 
     grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of 
     leadership.

  Those are the words of former Senator Barack Obama, now President of 
the United States.
  As a candidate for President, in 2008, Presidential candidate Barack 
Obama said:

       We're going to have to take on entitlements and I think 
     we've got to do it quickly.

  And in 2009, President Obama said:

       What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are 
     now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick 
     it any further.

  He also promised his administration would ``work with Congress to 
execute serious entitlement reform.''
  President Obama, as both Republicans and more and more Democratic 
Members of Congress are committing to go forward--and as Republican and 
Democratic Governors of States in fiscal peril are responding--our 
Nation, Mr. President needs you now to assume the primary leadership 
role in helping us avert these financial problems and potential 
financial meltdown.
  The 2012 election must be subordinate to the urgency and the 
challenge before us. We cannot afford to wait until 2013 to begin the 
necessary work to prevent a fiscal disaster. We need Presidential 
leadership now. Our country's future is at stake.
  Given the immensity of our fiscal challenges we face today, some 
would say it is too late to remedy the problem. I do not hold that 
view. And I do not hold that view primarily because of our Nation's 
history in rising to the challenge that faces us. From the Founding 
Fathers to George Washington, from Abraham Lincoln to Roosevelt and 
Reagan, times of trial and crisis have always produced moments of great 
leadership and the response of the American people to support that 
leadership.
  That is what Americans are yearning for today: leadership--leadership 
to guide us out of this dangerous financial hole that threatens our 
Nation's security and future.
  So I ask our President--as other Presidents throughout our history 
have done in times of major threats--Mr. President, grant us your 
leadership. Grant us the leadership needed to restore the strength and 
prosperity that has been the American story and has allowed our Nation 
to be the defenders and protectors of democracy and freedom.
  Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan delivered his first inaugural 
address, and expressed the urgent need to rein in spending and curb the 
size and growth of the Federal Government. He said doing so will 
require ``our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves 
and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that 
together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which 
now confront us.''
  For each of us serving here today, I believe it is our duty to rise 
to the immediate challenge and ``resolve the problems which now 
confront us.'' It will take all of us uniting behind a common purpose--
that above all else, we must first restore and strengthen our fiscal 
security. We must articulate a clear vision, set specific goals, and 
make the tough decisions needed to bring our Nation out of debt and 
preserve prosperity and opportunity for future generations.
  I am here today to commit to Hoosiers, to my colleagues, to my 
children and grandchildren, to all our Nation's children and 
grandchildren, that I will not turn my back on our economic dangers or 
seek the false safety of political denial.
  I am standing here today to find solutions, to make the hard 
decisions, and to leave behind a country that is stronger and more 
fiscally secure for future generations.
  This crisis is not insurmountable. We can overcome it by doing what 
great generations before us have done: mustering our will to do what is 
right. If we do, I know that America's greatest days are not behind us 
but still lie ahead.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.

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